The first day of the conference was packed with top level speakers from all parties involved in the regional innovation system. Business, university and government experts shared their thoughts on what is needed for successful open innovation implementation. The balanced program produced a clear image of the different needs and goals for the parties involved, but also of the similarity in goals needed to create the ‘Win-Win-Win’ results through which all parties profit.
Part of the program focussed on the various formats for regional development through open innovation. With Nokia’s distinguished researcher and creator of the successful New Factory in Tampere Jukka Saarinen leading the session on business development, in which also George Mason University Professor Roger Stough and DSM Vice President of Open Innovation Robert Kirschbaum participated.
At the same time there were session on Design Driven Innovation and Open Data as a Catalyst for Business Development, which presented exciting alternative routes for the creation of start ups. Especially the work of Jarmo Eskelinen at Forum Virium in Helsinki is a great example of how government can stimulate regional development in an innovative way by sharing the data and statistics collected as a basis for the development of new and exciting applications.
Before the 140 delegates ended the day in style with a conference dinner in Scandinavia’s highest restaurant, there was a forum discussion chaired by Prof. Giovanni Colombo of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology. Dr. Erkki Ormala, Nokia VP of Technology Policy, Prof. Bjorn Asheim of Lund University, Ravindra Abhyankar, an Open innovation expert of the Indian Ministry for Science and Technology, Prof. Stough and Jukka Saarinen provided the audience with a list of critical conditions for implementation of Open Innovation for regional development.
- Good Coordination of the Triple Helix (Prof. Colombo)
- Proper mix of internal and Open Innovation (R.Abhyankar)
- Sufficient absorptive capacity (Prof. Asheim)
- Good power framework between the different parties involved (Prof. Asheim)
- Competency in the comparative advantage, focus on your region’s strength (R. Kirschbaum)
- Understandable goals (Dr.Ormala)
- Coordinate your actions (Dr.Ormala)
- Create a Win Win Win situation (Prof.Saarinen)
- Trust among regional actors (Prof. Stough)
10. Clever organization, strong leadership (Rich Bendis)
Overall the importance of structure and organization seems to be the prevalent critical condition, but at the same time it might be the most difficult to achieve when considering the many different actors, stakes and goals involved.
For more information on The Technopolicy Network or the conference, please contact me, Ewout Meijer, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
